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Bilic: West Ham were close to signing N’Golo Kante

Slaven Bilic has revealed Leicester star N’Golo Kante could have been playing for West Ham this season.

Bilic was close to signing the midfielder from French side Caen in the summer, but instead brought in the likes of Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio and Pedro Obiang.

And, while Bilic’s summer signings have been a hit this season, he admits Kante has made a huge impression, saying the Frenchman covers so much ground he is like having an extra man on the pitch.

“Yes, we were quite close (to signing Kante),” said the Hammers boss.

“I watched him in France. He was a good player, the same player he is now with Leicester.

“He’s not very tall, but he’s one of those players that you think after 20 minutes that there are twins, that there are two of them, because the energy, the cleverness he plays with, he’s always there.

“When you watch a game on television there are players that are always on screen. They are never out, whatever you see, you see them, they are always on television. He’s one of them.

“That’s not only ability like having big lungs or legs or whatever, the capacity to run, this is in his head.

“So, he was there, but then we got some players in the same positions and it would have simply been too many players for the same position.”